Moscow, Jan 25 (IANS): The Russian military cannot ignore an increase in military activities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as tensions regarding Ukraine have flared up, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Peskov made the remarks on Monday during his daily briefing shortly after NATO said its allies are "putting forces on standby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to NATO deployments in Eastern Europe" to deter Russia, Xinhua news agency reported.

In addition to the NATO maneuvers, Ukrainian authorities are concentrating a huge amount of forces on the line of contact with the two self-proclaimed republics in Donbass, he noted.

The threat of provocations by Kiev in the Donbass region in east Ukraine is now higher than ever, the spokesman stressed.

The current escalation of tensions was caused by the US and its NATO allies, who have launched a propaganda campaign full of lies against Russia, Peskov said.

The US and Britain are withdrawing some staff and dependents from their embassies in Ukraine, stoking fears that a conflict is looming.